imagine the future. i see cars cutting me off and then flipping me the paw. i know you have a dog license, but do you have a learner's permit? do any of you have learner's permits? now where were we with the top ten signs your dog is a bad driver? >> you use your car to mount a nissan century. the number one sign that your dog is a bad driver, always taking eyes off the road to lick himself. >> reporter: being trained to drive with treats is sure to have dogs heading for the closest drive through. >> do you want to be the designated driver tonight? >> reporter: definitely not napoleon. driving is his waterloo. jeannie moos, cnn. i said hit the brake, not het the cake. >> reporter: new york. >> new meaning there for rough ride. corny, i know. i'm sorry. stop yelling in my ear. i'm don lemon. who's black in america begins right now.

why is your hair so good? why is your skin so light? i'll get questions like are you hiss pan snik are you mixed? >> why wouldn't i think i was black? >> a lot of people off the black think i'm black. i'm dominican. >> just because you're black doesn't mean your african-american. i used to identify as caribbean-american. >> i'm african. >> am i? >> i'm part native-american. it's always been weird trying to figure out who i am. >> air-tran, italian, irish, arab. >> black and white for a lot of my life. black is something i rejected. >> black. black. black. >> you must have been told well you're not really black. >> black is big enough to hold every shade. >> i am a black woman and these are my black daughters who happen to have a white father.

>> i'm black. it's never been a question. it's just simple as a beating inside me. >> i am. >> i am. >> i am. >> i'm soledad o'brien. over the last five years in this series we've explored what it means to be black in america. my mother's black and cuban. my father is white and from a australia. and when i was born in the mid 1960s, the census didn't even track the number of mixed race children because my mother's black, i always considered myself black. and when i was a kid, my mother used to tell me don't let anyone tell you you're not black. but more often the question i was getting was, what are you? with the 2010 census setting a record 7% of new births are mixed race, more young people are grappling with that question. and grappling with their racial identity. this installation of black in america follows two young women who struggle with their racial

identities and who are sick of answering the question what are you? ♪ >> if i had like a word to describe me, most likely be quirky. i'm in a band. we do like progressive alternative rock kind of. at first when people meet me, they don't really know what i am. people will ask me like what are you? >> reporter: 17-year-old nio jones is a singer, a poet, a high school senior. but that's not what people want to know. >> recently after i had one of those experiences, i started writing things. i was like becca deals with the same thing. let's make this a group piece. >> what do you want to do? >> pick a book.

>> reporter: becca is her best friend. they do spoken word poetry together. it starts off and it's like girl, you are so pretty. what are you? the quintessential question for an intense skin girl with a kinky hair and frizz that doesn't seem to quit because answering human isn't enough for them. they can't handle my racially ambiguous figure. >> they itch to know just what i am. it helps them sleep at night if they can just pin down the reason for my brown skin. >> they're being asked to categorize themselves racially. >> i am beautiful. >> in a country that has hiss to historically put people in one two of blochls, black or white. >> can you decide? >> i don't think anyone else gets to pick for me. it's what i say about myself that is the most important. >> all right. i see that shot. >> perry jillio coaches and

mentors nyo and becca and other poets in the philadelphia youth poetry movement. many are struggling to define themselves. >> like, literally -- >> reporter: he is also a spoken word poet. some fame in the city where he is known as vision. >> i am the artistic director here. >> reporter: today and for the next month, he's teaching a poetry work shop focusing on racial identity, skin color, and discrimination. >> how many folks have been asked what are you? >> we're going to talk about how you identify you and if you're okay with that. >> it's a challenge he experienced himself. >> white boy, half breed. toe, what is he? >> i'm running from that poem. i'm not lying. >> i think i'm going to do the piece though. >> reporter: he's running from his past.

divorced parents, his father perry is white, his mother is black. he says she hates her skin color. >> she doesn't like being dark skinned. i haven't talked to her in years. i think subconsciously it made it okay in my mind to not be okay with who you are. you know, to not be comfortable in your own skin. i didn't want light skin. i wanted to blend in, to be just like everybody else. i used to live here with my mom. my father is white. he lived in a black neighborhood. my mother was black, she moved us to a white community. i got like jumped, like, literally right here on this pavement because i was black. they would make comments about my mom. monkey noises and, you know, nigger this and that. >> beat up and taunlted because to the white boys, wasn't white enough. >> my father's house. this is home. >> to his father's black neighbors, he wasn't black

enough. it's always jokes here and there and marks and light skin boys think they're it this and high yellow that and things of that nature. >> reporter: high yellow meaning light skinned. it's one of many taunts he heard over the years that made him feel rejected by the black community. those taunts, the result of colorism. >> colorism is a system that says that light skinned is more valued than dark skin. >> the ones that i end up selecting -- >> this professor wants to get people of all shades working together to end colorism. instead of pointing fingers at one another. it's why this dark skinned woman began one drop. project that looks at the experiences of light skinned people and what it means to be black. she plans to turn it into a book of photos and essays. >> one job started as my own personal into the other side of blackness. it helped me to kind of think differently, if you will, help me to reflect on the assumptions

that i was making about people of light erskine. >> reporter: she believes xlorism divides the black community, creating identity issues for light skinned blacks and self-esteem issues for those would are dark erskined. she's felt it herself. >> i had a friend, someone i considered a friend, very light skinned, blue eyes. she got engaged. so i said to her jokingly one day like, hello? where is my invitation? and she said to me very matter of fact, girl, my momma would pass out if you came to my wedding. >> because you're dark skinned? >> basically, i was too dark. >> why do you think discussions of colorism are often qui sunset. >> there is always anxiety about what white people think about us. we don't want to give them more fuel for the fire. let's not air our dirty launtry. we'll deal with that on our own. any time we try to talk to each other, it turns into war. you know? we're quick to point fingers and

blame and say i had this experience because of someone that looked like you. >> what are the darking people doing in the yellow circumstance snl. >> this girl is 22 years old. she believes colorism divides the black community. it's why she teaches concepts of colorism to grade school kids in richmond, virginia. >> my goal for the kids is to have them understand what colorism is. hopefully them knowing where it comes from. they will be less likely to perpetuate these behaviors. >> all right. i heard somebody over here saying i don't want to be dark, dark, dark. who said that? >> me. >> why do you like being dark, dark, dark. >> because it's ugly. >> why is dark ugly? >> i don't know. >> so if you were darker you wouldn't like yourself? >> no. >> i say that to say this is a safe space. >> reporter: vision hears the same thing from the teenagers he mentors.

on twitter you can look at team light skin or dark skin and see comments like light skin is the right skin or there are few pretty dark skinned girls. >> why are we still doing jim crow stuff? why are we putting ourselves through this? >> reporter: vision is focusing on a conversation about skin color and identity with nyo, becca and about 50 other young poets. among the questions they'll be tackling, who is black? >> race is a social construct. you are who you say you are. >> what makes you black? >> is black just skin? is black culture? is black our experiences? is black struggle? >> who determines who is black? >> the irony is who's black is determined not by black people. who's black is determined functionally by white people. >> and how does skin color divide black america? >> we're all very aware from our lived experiences that skin color matters. >> once you identify you're there -- >> these are uncomfortable, often painful questions. >> you have to stop trying to

push people in box that's we're comfortable in. it's not about me. it's about nyo's path. it's about beck yoe's path. >> the yurjourneys down these ps are just beginning. why are you so reluctant thoen say i'm black. deal with it? >> i am -- >> i am -- >> i am -- americans believe they should be in charge of their own future. how they'll live tomorrow. for more than 116 years, ameriprise financial has worked for their clients' futures. helping millions of americans retire on their terms. when they want. where they want. doing what they want. ameriprise. the strength of a leader in retirement planning. the heart of 10,000 advisors working with you one-to-one.

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i'm dominican. but when somebody asks me if i'm black, i want to think they're thinking african-american when i'm not. i think it is two different cultures. they cam from the same ancestry as africa, but they're 400 years. when are we going to say african and dominican? how i look on the outside doesn't mean i'm the same culture as somebody that is the same complexion as me. >> three, two, one! around this room there are a bunch of signs on the wall. a bunch of quote unquote identities on the walls. on the pillars, on some chairs. walk around the room. you can only choose one. walk around the room. find out the classification you think you fit, that you identify with most. stand there. go.

let's go. let's go. let's go. >> reporter: vision is asking each student to choose an identity. >> perfect. so easy. >> everybody -- has everybody identified? is everybody comfortable? somebody walks up to you and says, hey, what are you? this is how you identify? correct? this is the way you act, correct? everybody have a seat. >> i went for female because, like, other makes me feel like i'm not a person. i honestly copped out. i will, like, readily admit i felt going into it i was okay i'm going to walk over to other. i don't feel like an other. >> your mother is? >> black. and my dad is white. >> tell me about your mom. >> there is not much i can tell you. there is not much that i know. i think her and my dad they got divorced when i was really, really young. after that, i just never saw

her. >> so do you say your black? >> i say i'm black and white. i never just said black. i don't necessarily feel black. i was raised up with white people, white music, white food. it's not something that i know. >> why are you so reluctant to say i'm black? deal with it? >> because -- >> i have spiky little black hair. i have brown skin. >> personally, i feel like i don't really feel black. you know? i feel like it's a part of me. but it's not everything. >> so is nyo black? >> she can identify how she chooses. i'm just saying we don't know each other, i would assume she is a black woman. ancestrily she is black. but then all society as they do with millions of other people remind her of her blackness in a million subtle ways. the fact that her father is white and embedded in white culture will not prevent her

from having a black experience in a racialized system. >> tim wise began fighting racism right out of college. he's written books on racism in america. >> color and who qualifies as black, who qualifies as white has historically been policed not by those who were the targets of the oppression but those who set up oppression as a way to dole out the goodies from a society where color is the dividing line for opportunity. >> how are you? >> i'm good. >> today professor bla is speaking to vision's work shop about one drop. historically, it's the concept used to define who is white and who is black? by 1925, nearly every state had a forum of the one drop rule on their books. it began during slavery. >> what does one drop mean?

>> you got any black ancestry in you at all, you're black. >> black over here, you're enslaved, right over here, you're free. you're in the middle. you don't look like white man, so what are you? >> they were, for the most part, children of rape. white master, black slave. >> historically, whiteness is defined as pure. the government then came to define blackness as anybody with any trace of african ancestry. any trace. so this definition of blackness is defined as the one drop rule. so we've got this pure bottle of white clear pure water. now what would happen if we were to take some black paint, just one drop. let's see. shake it up and see. here we go. here we go.

that once pure water to quench your thirst has now been contaminated. what does one drop has come to mean in history is one 32nd of nigro/black/african blood. all you need is one person five generations back who is black and that is enough to make you black. take a guess when it was ruled unconstitutional. what year? >> 1967. >> the one drop rule was an attempt to save the so-called purity of the white race. >> so then why do so many black people hold on to the one drop rule. me included. i think i'm black because my mother is black. >> the one drop rule, racist as it is, actually gave us parameters for our community. we know who is black. we know who wasn't. we knew what our issues were and even who the hour was. >> i hate the one drop rule. historical significance of it. >> so what do you check when you

fill out a form? >> i say black now. but as long as i check other, i never checked white. i'm not white. america lets you know real fast that you're not white. i've never been jumped and called cracker or honky. i've been jumped and called monkey and nigger. >> you're black? >> i'm black. i'm biracial but i'm black. i'm no different than frederick douglas or barack obama or many historical figures who are biracial and, you know, are black and are part of black history. >> for becca, it's not that simple. >> i think i'm from africa. i mean i know i'm from africa. but the black kids don't seem to really want me and the white kids don't really seem to want me. is a beautiful thing. ♪ zzzquil, the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil.

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for nyo jones and becca, it's difficult. >> so what you feel inside, what you feel you are, how you identify yourself is what you're writing right now. i want you to spit from your heart. one more minute. wrap it up. we're going to go upstairs into the drama studio.

>> i don't have a race. i'm now and forever my own race. i'm tired of rabbit holing. why hide in the ground with everyone else when i can be myself and fly. >> nyo, black mother, white father, refuses to put herself in anyone else's box. whether the white kids i'm one of them, kint say i feel welcome. black is always the color of my bones. bones black, black like sand and sky, black like heart and mind. black like me. >> i'm black. and i'm african-american and i'm accepting of. that i'm proud of it. >> becca's roots are in africa. north africa. her parents were born in egypt. >> you feel you're african-american? >> yes. that's been a struggle for me. >> egypt is in after kashgs right? >> yeah, but it's not subsa

herian africa. it's not in real africa. it's in fake africa. and most egyptians don't identify themselves as african-american. >> unlike nyo, becca proudly calls herself black. but not everyone in the poetry work shop is buying it. >> do you think she's black? >> sophia washington is becca's good friend. >> no. >> why is she not black? >> like i acknowledge, you know, egypt is african. but i feel like there's a difference between being from africa and being black. >> so you think that you don't get to choose what you are? >> i don't think you get to choose. i think while we would all love to get to choose how we are and how people see us, what people see you as speaks stronger than what you personally identify. you are don't always get that chance to explain how you identify. >> what makes somebody black in your mind? >> i think how people see them a

certain amount of experiences. >> so there is a black experience? >> i think. so. >> what's the black experience? >> you know, i would probably have to deal with racial profiling, becca would not. >> you think those differences are the differences between what make you black and not black? >> i think so. i mean, black, yes. african, no. >> my father is from begin yi. my mother is from liberia. i was born in philadelphia. growing up i was us astra sized. you're not like us. that's our culture. i live right on the same block as you. so people say you know, you're not black. >> people tell you that. they say you're not black? >> growing up they tell me that for a significant portion of my life. >> both of my parents are considered light skinned black. but what makes me black and what makes them black is the culture.

>> this woman is a former editor at "essence," a magazine for black women. today she writes and lectures on issues of race and image. >> the music, the spirit, the food, the laughter, the way that we love, the way that black people have soul. >> i think it's an combination of all of it. i think it's skin tone. i think it's experience. i think it's culture. i think it's a mindset. i think if you claim black and that's what you are -- >> i think there is this understanding, particularly in this racialized society that to be black one has to be seen as black. so that if you and i walk into a room, people recognize me as black. they might question what you are. and so i think it has a lot to do with this idea of do people see you as black? if people don't see you as black, then you're not black. >> danielle says that at first glance very few people see her as black. >> i have always felt like i'm a black woman. >> danielle joined the one drop

project in 2011 about, a decade after the two women met in grad school. danielle's mother is white. her father is black. he died when she was a teenager. >> i made so many assumptions about danielle. i thought she was that type of light skinned chick. she thought she was cute and too good and standoff offish because they didn't fool with us, you know, regular folk. but really what was going on is she had an experience growing up in the middle of pennsylvania in a mcommunity. >> litiz, pennsylvania, 92% white. danielle felt like she didn't belong in the only world she knew. >> it was this quiet ignoring that i often felt as though people just didn't really want to mess with me. you know? you're good. stay over there. >> how did you get through?

>> i left school. i stopped going. >> you dropped out? >> i didn't officially drop out. they sent a tutor to my house. and that's how i finished my junior year. >> she got through that year. and the next, graduated and entered temple university where she studied for her masters degree in african-american studies. she says she had a deep desire to connect with her blackness. >> my family is very important to me. my white family is who i grew up around. but even with them, i feel as though i'm black. i'm not the same as them. and i've always felt that way. i know where i feel most comfortable. and the way that i want to identify. and the beating that's in me is blackness. it's blacknessment there's no question about it. >> that's not the case for nyo who like danielle grew up with a

white family. she says to me i haven't had a black experience. i don't feel when i'm around black people that i'm black. is she black? >> i would say she's black. i think that maybe she has an idea of what a black experience is. and doesn't identify with that experience and so, therefore, she doesn't think that she's black. everyone would say i didn't have a black experience. but i my own kind of black experience. there isn't just one. >> for nyo, the search for her identity is about to open old wounds. >> this is gross. >> it's not gross. there is nothing gross about healing. what is that? it's you!

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my father was black and my mother was white. i never saw mixed and black as mutually exclusive. it comes from being cut off from their traditions and culture in africa and building their own cultural traditions here in america. i feel connected to my russian heritage. this is an alien concept to me. >> it's a poem about her life. >> they always call me a white girl. i was never ashamed until they taught me to be ashamed. she calls her poem buy racial.

>> i always remember their brand of weirdo and vanilla and shade. >> now she thooz perform it at the first competition of the season. but it's painful and she can hardly get through it. >> i pretended i didn't know they were all wondering if i was adopted. no black mother to explain how this tall angular white man ended up with a short chestnut girl. they doubted he was ever my father. only seven hours until show time and she can't remember her poem. >> find it. you got it. >> i can tell you why you're not remembering it. you're not connecting. when the speeches are personal, we don't want to connect it to. i wrote it, i'm done. that's the beginning. >> they always call me a white girl. i was never ashamed of myself until they taught me to be ashamed. i won't be white girl anymore. >> good. >> i won't be mixed girl either.

i've come far enough that i'm not ashamed of who i am. but i refuse to be defined by it either. >> don't. >> i don't want to -- this is gross. >> it's not gross. it's not gross. there is nothing gross about healing. >> i'm just so frustrated. i don't know. >> it's okay. and it gets easier. i promise you it gets easier. come here. come here. let go. it's okay. it's all right. you got this. claim who you are tonight. this is your speech. that stage tonight is for you. it's all right, sweetie. let go. >> these are the wounds of

colorism. >> wounds often first inflicted on the playground to both light skinned and dark skinned kids. >> they live in the same neighborhood. they were even in the same grade. >> this woman recently graduated from the university of richmond. her passion is educating children about colorism. >> tell me about that. why didn't the teacher call on her? >> because she is ugly and black. >> she is 7 years old and her mother is worried her little girl is already getting the message dark skin is bad. >> i think my skin is ugly. >> why do you think it's ugly? >> because. i don't want to be dark. >> you don't want to be dark? >> no, i want to be light skinned. >> why? >> because light skin is pretty. >> you think so?

>> yes. >> is there anything else? >> yes. >> what? >> that i like to be like you. >> and you know what? i want to be pretty like you. >> so we both have stuff we wish for. >> tell me what that means. >> my stance is teach the children what it is. show them the history. make them aware of this issue so that when they go to school, when they go out in the world they're armed with this information. >> because he wants to buy her because her skin is lighter. >> colorism was something that plantation owners used as an instrument to divide and conquer their own enslaved persons. by extending to light erskined enslaved persons more privileges. it was a way to get those light erskined black folks to be more likely to side with the owner if there was a slafr rebve rebell n

plan. >> today the brown paper back test. she compares their skin tone to a paper bag. >> can you put your arm out for me? okay, you have to sit in the back. >> lighter than the bag, you can sit in the front. it's a real test from the early 1900s used by social organizations, churches and fraternities and neighborhood groups to decide who was light skinned enough to join. was it too extreme to do to little kids? >> the more shocking the activity is, the better because it's going to stick with them. >> why are you all feeling bad? >> she showed us that dark skin had to sit in the back and light skin had to sit in the front. i didn't think it was fair. >> do you think you are less privileged because the color of your skin? >> 18-year-old sophia washington, one of vision's philadelphia poets has learned the same harsh lessons. >> i think that i have less

opportunities and less access to certain privilege that's other people don't because of the color of my skin. >> when she claims that her life is harder than either of these other two young women because of her skin color -- >> she has a basis for making that claim. >> william dairy is a professor of african-american studies and economics at duke university. >> there is a lot of evidence that is consistent with her saying that. >> dozens of studies show differences in skin color having huge consequences including a 2008 study that says light skinned black women have a better chance of marrying than darker women. and a 2006 study that shows that dark skin color can affect earning potential. >> we found that dark erskined and medium skinned tone black men suffered approximately a 10% to 12% penalty in wages relative to white males. but lighter skinned black males

suffered no penalty. >> let's be on team dark skin or light skin. >> the motional toll of colorism comes up again and again as the slam competition gets under way. >> too dark written on our skin and too black on our chest. >> the competition is tough. and nyo is nervous. honey... ya? you notice something different about these toys? the prices are so low. are we dreaming? i got an idea. kick me in the shin. if i feel it, we know the prices are real. yep, they're real. we've got more rollbacks on toys all december. wait, was that real? [ male announcer ] this christmas, get the hottest brands and rollbacks on the season's hottest toys, like the beyblade destroyer dome, only $34.96, the nerf elite hailfire, only $29.88 or select playdoh sets, only ten dollars.

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slam night at the franklin institute in center city, philadelphia. 20 young poets competing for the win. nyo jones is about to face them and her fears. >> everybody show love and give it up for nyo. >> she not only has to be better than the competition, she has to expose old emotions and confront painful questions of her identity. >> i love you. >> they always called me a white girl. i was never ashamed of myself until they taught me to be ashamed. i was never keen on splitting hairs or splitting veins. my blood is not segregated into black and white. in my mind, i'm gray. a mixture of all beautiful things. you cannot paint me. >> she rushes to finish. >> i'm come far enough to know not to be ashamed of what i am, but i wouldn't let them define me by it either. >> it was so fantastic to just

get that off my chest. i didn't stutter. i didn't stumble. i didn't forget the words which was really great because i was so scared i would forget the words. >> i know she can dive so much deeper into that poem. she can tap into that and really get free. >> he forces me to do the things that i really would rather not do. but sometimes what's the best for you is kind of hard to do. >> for nyo, getting through this first slam of the season is a relief. for becca -- >> biting the hands of every guy -- >> it's phenomenal. >> we bark, growl, and taker apart the portraits you painted. we corrupt our own with the paint you had no use for. we will repaint ourselves as women holy once more. >> our winner for the evening, give it up y'all for becca!

>> what was that like? >> awesome. i never won anything before. it was a really wonderful feeling. >> becca feels black. she desperately wants the world to see her that way, too. >> i never thought being black was synonymous to your color because i thought that was racist. who wants to be racist in our society? everyone does apparently. because i'm not dark i'm not black. >> so who determines who is black? >> the important thing to do is to, of course, define yourself however you wish. that's your own right and your own freedom.

you should exercise it. it's also important for people to always keep in mind how the larger society is likely to see one. >> the u.s. government has a say when it comes to identity. u.s. census bureau, white. person having origins in any of the original peoples of europe, middle east or north africa. you're defined as white according to the census. >> yep. >> she's not white. so the question really goes to the u.s. government. why are people from north africa white? what purpose does that serve? how did you come to make that decision? they are on the continent of africa. they are of african dissent. why not be black? >> the question in this society to some extent is will she be viewed as white by anyone other than the census taker? the census taker may write it down that way. unless the police officer, loan officer, teacher, employer for

whom she's trying to get a job views her that way and it's very unlikely they will, she is going to be at the very least a woman of color. >> what role does family play in all of this? for nyo, that's unclear. >> i mean i already have a poetry book. look at how nice this is, dad. look at how pretty that is. >> i think a lot of it really is, again how you are cultured. what is the dominant culture your household? for her it's white. she lived with her dad. >> so there you go. who loved you? who took care of you? >> while nyo is reluctant to embrace her black roots, it's a different story for her 14-year-old sister ky. >> i feel more comfortable when i'm around people that are black. i think i fit in more with black people. she likes different music, dresses out differently, hangs out with different people. i like more hip hop. she doesn't like that.

she hangs out with more white people or black people that act white. i hang out with black people that act black. >> same mother, same father. sisters living on opposite sides of the same wall divided by views on culture and identity. but for nyo, that might be about to change. >> there are certain things that kept coming up, female, poet, black. female, poet, black. so i'm wondering how come i have to be the odd one out in this situation? gotta keep that fire in the belly. coach rick's got something for you. [ all cheering ] deshawn! ♪ found out during halftime. [ all cheering ] [ male announcer ] the simple joy of making the grade. ♪

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i am a black woman and these are my black daughters who happen to have a white father. >> i see my daughters as gifts from god who come from a heritage of german ancestry, irish ancestry, african ancestry. we're raising them as black women because i think that's how the world sees them. i think the united states, i think we still abide by a one drop rule. we're not overemphasizing anything. we're just being who we are. >> so online application centerment okay. create new account. >> it's senior year which means it's stressful. and it's extra stressful for

nyo. >> hold on. dad -- >> what are you doing? >> college stuff. i'm making them select my primary ethnicity. really? they have american indian, asian, black, native hawaiian, other pacific islander or white. >> she picked african-american, but you should have the option of identifying as strictly bi-racial. >> becca is also filling out college applications. >> when i'm applying to college, i don't want to have to sit and have this long discussion with myself about what bubble i should fill in for my ethnicity. i want to put african-american. i think i'm african-american. >> what box do you check? >> i check white. >> you check white? >> yep. >> so that i can avoid any troubles with getting into college. i'm applying for theater. >> she fears checking black could mess up her chances of acceptance.

>> you look at black or african-american, you have this image in your head. then when you meet me, because i have to audition for the schools, you meet me and now they don't have any black girls. you know? >> 20 years from now, what will you be? >> i want to say 20 years from now i'll be like i'm black and people will say that's what's up. >> i'm a firm believer in the ability to self identify. becca says she's black. i would agree she is black. >> give me a positive one. >> maybe these girls get to help dissolve these boxes. they have to say for themselves, they have to define what is beautiful and who is black and who is not. by sharing images, by sharing stories, by sharing culture. >> the final work shop is all about sharing. >> going to write down ten things that identify you.

write a poem about the things you have in common. >> paul, creative, black, ambitious. >> nick, tall, educated. >> i have bi-racial, female, student, poet, short, musician, afroed. >> you're going around the circle, there are certain things that kept coming up. female, poet, black. female, poet, black. i'm wondering how come i have to be the odd one out in this situation. i don't have to be the odd one out. you know, like it's very plausible for me to be like, yep, okay. i'm black, too. >> ready? >> yes. >> we are the mango queens. we're the blossoms of the mango tree. the black woman, the tree, the beauty, the tree, the beautiful black tree. the beautiful black woman. >> we are a mango tree. >> today she said i'm a black woman. and she came off stage, i said

you know what you just called yourself a black woman. >> i just identified myself as black. >> and there was this almost a weight off her shoulders and this huge smile. she said, i did. she hugged me. she shook me a little bit. it was pretty cool. >> it wasn't life altering like i'm from now on black. and it helped to open my mind a lot. i don't think it's going to completely change everything. but it's a milestone for me. >> after poetry work shop, nyo makes a mad dash to choir performance. nyo is a soprano, a featured soloist. she sees herself as ambitious, talented. will there ever be a time when the world sees her only as that?